Educators already questioning governor's teacher prep reforms

LAS CRUCES &GT;&GT; Local educators are already raising concerns about new programs for teachers and principals that Gov. Susana Martinez announced Tuesday.

The programs include a new ranking system for the state's six education schools that bases ratings on how much alumni's student test scores improve, among other measures. Graduates who increase their students' achievement will increase their alma maters' rankings.

The ratings will also include classroom observation; how many alumni teach science, technology, engineering or math; how they progress in their careers; how long they stay teachers; and how many pass the state licensure exam, Education Secretary Hanna Skandera said. The state has not yet finalized the calculation, she said.

"The first few years for teachers in the classroom are linked to how well they're prepared," she said.

But educators are questioning the fairness of judging teachers and their colleges on how well graduates' K-12 students perform.

"On its face, it appears that the metrics they're using are too narrow," local teachers union president Patrick Sanchez said. "There are so many factors involved in what we call success."

The announcement is the latest effort to use students' standardized test scores to evaluate teachers, schools, colleges and more, Arrowhead Park Early College High School teacher Amy Simpson said.

Much of a public school's A-F grades and the new teacher evaluation are based on growth in students' standardized test scores.

Advertisement

"The reason there's so much emphasis on this (student test scores) is it's easy, it's a simple measure," Simpson said. "That's a lot easier than measuring life-long learning. Single numbers are an easy thing to cling on to, but they are just that; they are just a number."

Skandera defended the use of student achievement.

"It's part of what makes a good teacher: Can they inspire learning?" She said.

The rankings will be released by the end of the coming school year, she said.

Martinez said the ranking system and other changes were developed by a workgroup of nearly 30 college and university presidents, deans and regents.

New Mexico State University College of Education Dean Michael Morehead was out of the country this week and said he hadn't yet heard of the changes.

A handful of other states also have rating systems, and national research has been done on the subject, Skandera said.

Indiana released data on teacher preparation programs this year, though the state looks merely at alumni's teacher evaluations.

The announced reforms will also alter the test required to become a teacher.

The New Mexico Teacher Assessment — Basic Skills Exam tests teachers-to-be at an eighth-grade level, Skandera said. Colleges, universities and the state want to raise that to a college level, better aligning it with national standards, she said.

Beginning in January, the test will be conducted online and available any time of the year at centers across the state, rather than only available twice a year, she said.

State and education officials also discussed changing the content of education degree programs, such as increasing the amount of time students spend as student teachers, but the universities themselves want to "work on that," she said.

More than $4.6 million will also go to colleges and universities to establish new teacher and principal preparation programs.

Colleges can apply for the funding to partner with alternative education models and develop new and faster ways to prepare teachers.

A program could, for example, partner with an organization to learn how to train mid-career professionals to become educators.